Aurora borealis

A tale of Rufous-tailed Robin

Am beginning to be ever so slightly wary of my prophetic diary entries here... after wistfully predicting that last week's weather was surely good for one last mega on Shetland (and selfishly hoping it'd be on my local patch), another first for the Western Palearctic had to turn up on Saturday, a Rufous-tailed Robin. On Fair Isle.

Got two phone calls in quick succession on Saturday afternoon to break the news, one from PH and one from SM (surely the jammiest birder around this autumn - books a week on Fair Isle in October; the week just happens to produce Chestnut-eared Bunting and Rufous-tailed Robin, two outrageous firsts...). At least this time I knew about the bird in time to do something constructive about it, and in no time I was booked onto a boat charter out of Scalloway on Sunday morning. Walking the mutts last thing on Saturday night, I couldn't help but notice how still and clear it was...

The bird was initially id'd tentatively as a Hermit Thrush, so a boat-load of Shetland birders went for that on Saturday afternoon. Only to find to their incalculable glee that the bird was a confiding Rufous-tailed Robin. PH sounded pretty pleased with himself!

Got a text from SM early on Sunday with negative news - no sign of the robin. Waited with the rest of the charter in Scalloway until 10.30 for positive news before giving up and heading our respective ways. Am drawing some consolation from the fact that had I heard about the "Hermit Thrush" on Saturday I wouldn't have joined that charter, having spent a happy afternoon in October '93 watching the Tresco bird. So Rufous-tailed Robin was strictly one for the lucky few who happened to be there at the time. And that this bird will surely improve the chances of the Chestnut-eared Bunting being accepted onto Category A of the British list. And (ho ho) this is yet another up-yours to Scilly, proving once again that Shetland (and especially Fair Isle) is the place to be! Am afraid that next October Shetland will be the new Scilly, inundated with birders...

Anyhow, the above photos and others can be viewed at the FIBO site. Other photos available here.

Finally, JL turned up a nice bird nearer to home on Friday, a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling. Pity it wasn't associating with the Starlings that hang out with my chickens, but at least that's a species I'm always likely to bump into at my end of the island, given the magnetism hens exert over Starlings. Eventually managed to track it down on Saturday morning, and got some record shots:

And that's about all for now. Many winter thrushes pouring through still, also good numbers of lingering northern Bullfinches. Managed a flyover Waxwing near the house on Saturday, a pair of gorgeous Snow Buntings on Sunday afternoon, and have taken to seeding the heligoland - Pine Bunting here we come!

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Posted by Stercorarius at October 25, 2004 09:56 AM